DCI San Antonio

[wesleyrp]

Ok I got to the Dome a little late and when we found our seats I was amazed at the location!! 45-47 yard line 20th row in the isle... Perfect right? WRONG... Blocking our view to the center of the field was an giant metal handrail with many metal bars resembling a sideways set of chimes! My wife's seat was completely obstructed and mine blocked the right side of the field! We were furious and for once in my life we nearly went home to watch FN, but, I figured we'd try the box office! To my surprise the once rigid Alamodome staff was Unbelievable and saved the day!:-) they traded our tickets for 35 yrd line seats and while it wasn't as prime a location we were in the isle and way more comfortable. My wife is 5 1/2 months pregnant and she was comfortable and we both loved the view and sound! We ended up on the 35 in Row 17... Onto the show...

Missed some action after seeing some BK rehearsal but Revolution is just getting better and better!! Proud of my current student in the Bass Line and former student whose a Mello. I thought Revo's show was too hard for them at the beginning of the season but wow they've come along. Great job, a dark horse to make WC semis I think!

Pioneer- Improved over last year but still not the size and strength they need to be to compete in WC! it's tough that they're always at the bottom I know that has got to kill recruiting! Keep pushing Pioneer!

Cascades- heard from the tunnel and sounded fatigued. I think the weakness of this young corps is the trumpets. Just not getting the tone production needed. I sat next to some of their members and they were awesome young people. Stay with your team Cascades members, remain loyal to your corps and you will make a huge rise.

Mandarins- Sounded bigger than they were. Good sounds most of the show but lost tonal focus by the middle to end because of the lack of depth in the smaller hornline. Good intense show much improved over a year ago... Good job!

Teal Sound- good young corps that I wish would not be so much on the electric side! I think they could harness a great show with their players being the focal point and not the electronics. Good talent but I really am not a fan of the electro corps stuff!!

Pacific Crest- Hello Volume my name is Wes and #### I was glad to meet you! Man this was the first corps to wake me and the audience up!! Great drumming, playing and spinning. I think they're ALOT better than they are scoring but they're not memorable in design! I hope the can get a design on the future to get them in the finals mix... Good corps and do they have BKs old marching style with leg kick!?! Me thinks so!

Crossmen- Homtown corps and my former student Joseph is aging out with the after 6-7 years. My Congrats Jo, wondeful job and great show. Saw them before they left for tour and liked them.. Love em now. At one point a former member sat next to us and said he wanted to go back and so did others that had marched before. That means the Xmen have got it going the right direction. Great soloists and show.. Nice job and the crowd loved it!!

Colts- Victim #1 of bad performance draw... This show was awesome and shouldve scored higher! I loved this show live and the Natalie Portman/Mila Kunis characters were easy to pick out!! Great arrangements of Swan Lake! My favorite Colts of sometime! Shoulda been at least 13-14 honestly!

Spirit- LOVE THIS SHOW!! Great concept and good supplemental use of electronics to further the theme.. How do you know the electronics are used well? The show could stand alone and we'd get it with out them. Great hornline, finalist worthy no doubt about it! Drumline not quite as good as last years but competent! Back half drill is just not as good or demanding as front half! Favorite Spirit show of the 2000s!

Glassmen- sad to say people exited left and right to get an early jump on dinner! I didn't want to miss but I also wanted to see BK warm up. My wife saw them and thought that Spirit and Colts were both much better shows. Said that they've seem to be a little more seasoned and mature but design is not as good as others around them.

BK- no need to state the obvious I'm the largest Honk for BK and I'm proud of it! This was bad performance draw victim #2. They didn't get to have a read next to or around the corps they're competing with. That said- THEY WERE ON FIRE LAST NIGHT! Best SA performance in a long time!! Crowd loved them and rightfully so! Great drill by Sully very effective and they use the field as good as anyone this summer! Visually still some dirt but it's cleaning up. I wondered why the trumpet soloist didn't play during Shepards Hey? He was in position like normal but no solo. Anyway Fantastic Run BK! Dark Full Sounds and the ballad was one of the best of the evening! Ending still feels incomplete, but I was told after the show by a member that there is actually 45 seconds of closing coming! Shout out to my 4 former students- Zach, Nick, Josh and Garrett I'm proud of you guys keep pushing!!! Stay English Baby!

Troopers- Bad Performace Draw Vicitm #3... Troop was really hurt by following BK! Like the Knights they did not get read with the group they were competing against. I loved the show last night! Solid arrangements and great hornline! Really good drill! Show has all the finalist elements but seems to be missing the connect that Spirit is generating! Great Infinity Chord!

Blue Stars- One of my favorite corps of the past 3 years... Loved them in Austin and did not care for the show last night! It sounded and looked live like the members are starting to get affected by the drop in placements. Very uninspired performance. Changes helped this corps in drill but they're going to have to spend the rest of the time cleaning and won't be able to add much because of it! The Bourne theme gets lost! Middle beat section loses steam develops to slowly! Really ashame that this top 6 caliber corps was given a design that's not up to the talent of the corps!

Boston- By contrast here was a corps brimming with confidence! Why not? Boston is talented and there is no weakness in any section! I still love the opener and closer but the Ballad and Drum Break loses steam and the mosquito net loses the audience! The high brass stand on the sidelines for 2 min and I'm not sure how this will affect their scores down the road! Strong closer and drill! Like SCV their drill and vis GE is better than the music! The music comes accross as choppy. There is just not a great flow between musical ideas! I see them maxing out early and losing ground! Great corps though!

Madison- I'm first off thoroughly impressed with the hornline! Wow! That said I really thought they were flat and the crowd was sitting on it's hands until the last few seconds of EMSOM. I think they performed well and really fairly clean though they clearly were a notch below Boston tonight. This show could do more to sell the 911 theme but is still effective. Overall this show is really lacking the visual package to go with that stellar hornline. Though the drumline is getting better scores they're still a glaring weakness as you watch live. I gave big standing O, solid job Scouts! I believe will be 10th by the time Finals roll around.

SCV- got a soda and wife wanted ice cream, only heard them and brass is better though still not stellar!

Phantom- Didn't care for them all that much at Austin or MN, but OH MY LORD DO I LIKE THEM NOW!! Beautiful show and Great Hornline! Not a champion caliber show but surely a top 5-6 show for sure! Yeah I have to say I'm gonna watch and listen to them over and over! U won me over Phantom!

Cadets- Bad Performance Draw Victim #4! Best drill and visual show in Dci! My favorite show in Dci no doubt! I feel they're getting mangled being in the 4-6 draw slot and it may be keeping the from getting serious title consideration! I also have to say that they may not win titled in brass perc or guard and will have a tough time being top 2-3 in their respective captions! This may hurt their title chances! FANTASTIC CADETS!!! Awesome job!

Bluecoats- All the elements are there why are they so low? Better show and talent than the bronze medalist a year ago! Audience agreed and gave it up to them! I feel it's just so competitive this year they kinda get list in the wash! Wonderful show Coats!! Way to go Blooooo!!

BD- My wife said something very true.... BD places so well because regardless the show they Sound Effortless!!! This is very true, but how little effort needs to be shown to move props around a field? I'm tired of BD doing big Prop/Little movement shows! Feels like they might as well just arc up and stand still be cause in essence they are. Park and blow move prop park and blow move box- repeat for 11 minutes! Crowd golf clapped and rightfully so! I think the vis GE scores should be much lower! Music us ok, but not what I'd like to see from a champion contender! Just being honest here!

Cavies- Yeah- this was amazing! Tricks and gimmicks aside, this Hornline may be the cavies best ever! Wonderful music book and holy screamers(better than BDs) I love the visual design, them and Cadets have far superior drills this summer! Great Creations of theme and use of Guard and Hornline to sell it! The main reason they may well win? They might well win and/or be at least 1st or 2nd in all three major sections(guard perc and brass) this might well keep them above the others in the end! Best reaction of crowd of night and rightfully so!

Crown- Bad Performance Draw #5. for such a fan friendly show they got a very flat response going on after Cavies! I loved it and could listen to that Hornline any and all day! They could play merrily we roll along for 45 minutes and I'd enjoy every second of it! If they dint win brass something is wrong with the judged- LORD ALMIGHTY!! great show, wonderful concept and execution! I don't think this show is cheesy and it has plenty of demand! Great addition of encore- love it! A medalist contender and championship darkhorse! Tonight though the fell flat to the Cavies!

Academy- Forgot them earlier so I wanted to give a few comments! Very strong show, finalist caliber to be sure! Best Ive seen them and they have wonderful sounds out of the Hornline. The design both musically and visually may not have enough steam to get them past corps above them! Nice job keep it up!

Overall I thought it'd be hard to match the quality and creative shows of 2010, but 2011 is better and stronger! Corps like Troop, Gmen, Colts, Spirit and Academy would all have been easy finalists in the late 90s or early 00s. Just amazing quality! Corps like boston BK Madison and Blue Stars would've been fighting it out for 5-8 just not to long ago with their amazing talent and shows but it's a real tribute to how competitive it is out there!! Great show and I was so glad to our seats fixed so that we didn't miss it live!! My placements would've looked like this:

1) Cavies

2) Cadets

3) Crown

4) Bluecoats

5) Phantom

6) BD

7) SCV

8) Boston

9) BK

10) Madison

11) Blue Stars

12) Spirit

13) Troopers

14) Glassmen

15) Colts

16) Academy

17) Crossmen

18) Pacific Crest

19) Mandarins

20) Teal Sound

21) Cascades

22) Pioneer

OC I agree with placements

Top Ten Fan Favs based off applause tonight were:

1) Cavies

2) Cadets

3) Phantom

4) Bluecoats

5) Crown

6) Madison

7) BK

8) Boston

9) Blue Stars

10) Troopers

One thing i think Dci needs to do is stop group placement draws! Rank corps after each regional and thats the slot they march for the next one! Draws have been bad for many now for both Regionals and its afftecting placement and scores! Thanks have a great week and here's to another great show coming up in ATL!

Wesley Perkins

BK 97 98

Edited July 24, 2011 by wesleyrp

[BRASSO]

If your observations of the audience response is accurate, it does seem odd that no Corps from California was in the top 10 of enjoyment level with the audience here, Wes.

I'm not doubting your observation skills here either. I'm just pointing out how unusual this would appear to be given the number of Corps from California that competed in this show.

[wesleyrp]

Again hard for me to say SCV as I wasn't in the stands but in the tunnel it was golf clap!

BD got mega golf clappage!! The crowd ate up Cadets and sat on their hands for BD! This is the honest truth they got less applause than Troop!

[crest99]

Thanks so much for taking the time to review all of the corps. Much appreciated for those of us who didn't get a chance to catch the show live or online.

I think the fuss over performance order is generally a little overwrought on these forums. As long as corps are within the general vicinity of their peers, I tend to believe that scores are more or less reflective of the performance on the field. Maybe that makes me horribly naive. In fairness, I know we whined and worried about this a lot when I was marching. Then we made semis my ageout year after drawing the first slot in quarters. So perhaps the most appropriate response to a bad draw is just to make sure you kick butt that day.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts on the show.

Chris

[do.it.up.]

BD- My wife said something very true.... BD places so well because regardless the show they Sound Effortless!!! This is very true, but how little effort needs to be shown to move props around a field? I'm tired of BD doing big Prop/Little movement shows! Feels like they might as well just arc up and stand still be cause in essence they are. Park and blow move prop park and blow move box- repeat for 11 minutes! Crowd golf clapped and rightfully so! I think the vis GE scores should be much lower! Music us ok, but not what I'd like to see from a champion contender! Just being honest here!

I am just fascinated at how well you are able to over exaggerate and distort anything that has to do with BD. Pretty much read the same thing in every review of yours.

1) You have no right to say when the crowd is reacting "rightfully." This goes for all corps.

2) From where I was, BD got standing ovations in the middle of their show.

[skywhopper]

Thanks for the review, Wesley. I totally agree about Phantom. I was underwhelmed the first few times I saw it (cinecast and fan network only admittedly) but then when I saw them live it just clicked and I immediately became a big fan.

I'm not sure if Phantom has the momentum to carry themselves to a medal, but I am starting to think they may overtake Crown in the next couple of weeks.

[arno0940]

I am just fascinated at how well you are able to over exaggerate and distort anything that has to do with BD. Pretty much read the same thing in every review of yours.

1) You have no right to say when the crowd is reacting "rightfully." This goes for all corps.

2) From where I was, BD got standing ovations in the middle of their show.

I completely agree with the reviewers posting. BD sounds effortless, b/c 9 times out of 10 they are standing still. You can't hear feet through a horn, or experience endurance issues if you aren't moving. I get that this is BD's style and approach to design, but it is what prevents me from loving them each year. I'd much rather watch Cavies, Cadets or Crown as they balance effective halts/standstill moments with running/moving while playing.

[wesleyrp]

Well said Arno! I love BDs sound... Just not the design that I want to see!! I will answer this to Do It Up

1) it's freedom of speech for me to say or interpret my opinions based off what I see or hear! Listen back on the FN and it confirms what I said! BD did not get multiple standing Os and in point of fact got a half hearted courtesy standing O at the end.(crowd gave all corps standing O, some bigger and more heartfelt than others)

2) Rightfully is my opinion... I saw that BDs show doesn't make the majority of folks come to a Rousing Standing O. Their show while nice to listen to is point of fact not the type of WOW did u see that kind of show... It was an appropriate response by the crowd!

Wes P

[craiga]

Thank you for your review, Wes. You went out of your way to be even-handed, and you are correct in that it is a great year for drum corps!

Nice work.

[crest99]

My suggestion to the rather sour poster who finds the OP's reviews so consistently slanted is simply to stop tormenting yourself by reading them all.

Or at least consider turning on the charm a little more when engaging him in a debate.